Earlier was better

Was New Jersey's participation in the 24-state Super Tuesday primary worth it? If you consider a voter turnout greater than at any time in the past 67 years a plus, it was. More than a 1.5 million people went to the polls.
Of course, if you were expecting the nominations to be settled by this exercise, it didn't happen. But we in New Jersey saw that, for once, our votes mattered and weren't an afterthought in June.
Still, the race, particularly on the Democratic side, is as muddled as it was on Monday. Republicans, at least, know that Sen. John McCain appears ready to snatch the party's nomination, although he hasn't wrapped it up just yet. But Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will continue to go head to head.

For now, New Jersey law dictates a presidential primary on the first Tuesday in February every four years, and we prefer that to the way the election was done in the past. What we'd like better is a more organized, regional primary system. Each month, starting in February of a presidential election year, one region would vote, with the order rotating every four years.
One advantage of such a system is that candidates would thoroughly explore issues pertinent to a region, such as agriculture in the Midwest or mass transit in the Northeast. And each election would be significant, as opposed to, say, the vote in New Hampshire.
While some may weary of a seemingly never-ending campaign, getting a say in selecting the presidential nominees is one of the basic benefits of living in a democracy. And that's surely what happened in New Jersey.